There is a new trend at Barnstable High School. It doesn’t involve a style of dress, or even a type of music. The trend involves the school’s Advanced Placement courses and the numbers of students opting to take them.

According to BHS principal Pat Graves, the number of students taking AP courses has tripled since the school first began offering them in 2001.

From 2001 to 2004 only 189 students elected to take AP classes. This school year, 2009-2010, 579 students have taken or are taking AP classes.

Several weeks ago a contingency of juniors approached Supt. Dr. Patricia Grenier requesting the addition of Macroeconomics in the 2010-2011 school year, something that is dependent on staff availability, but is being considered.

Because of the strong interest in the courses, Graves is working toward implementing the Advanced Placement International Diploma at BHS, a globally recognized certificate for students with an international outlook.

The APID is an internationally recognized program by universities throughout the world. To earn an APID, a student attending a US high school must be enrolled in AP courses, and on at least one exam must indicate that they would like their results sent to a university outside the US.

“The number of courses, the breadth of what’s in place here qualifies kids for the APID,” Graves said. “We’ve had dozens of kids with qualifying scores.”

A statistics sheet from Graves’ AP files showed two students who have taken 12 AP courses with scores of 4 and 5 on the exams, the highest possible marks. Other students, while not taking as many AP courses, also scored in the 4-5 range. To qualify for an APID, students must score a 3 or higher on at least five of their AP exams.

“I’m just thrilled because not only are we offering more courses, but more students are taking them, as well,” said Graves. “What I also like is that we have kids raising the bar for themselves.”

Graves said that in a number of cases, students were inspired to enroll in AP courses after realizing most of their peers were in them, as well.

“We as a school have focused on getting more students to take these classes. If a student looks and sees 40 percent of their classmates taking AP classes, they’ll think, ‘I can do it, too’,” she said. “I think we’ve started to change the culture of the school.”